God's Hand
by phresine
Summary: Persona AU. Lelouch meets V.V. in his dreams. Rather, V.V. tells him it's a dream, and since he's never seen an elevator quite so large or so eerily lit, he's inclined to agree.


Lelouch meets V.V. in his dreams. Rather, V.V. tells him it's a dream, and since he's never seen an elevator quite so large or so eerily lit, he's inclined to agree.

"My Master called for you. He can give you the power of the Gods," V.V. tells him. He's reclining with his legs crossed on a round table, headless of the plush chair sitting empty behind him. Lelouch himself is sitting before him in a backless wooden chair, the arms a peculiar shape that curves down to the base of his spine, then up and out at the sides.

Lelouch doesn't think twice. "What do I need to do?"

–

V.V. teaches him how to release his inner personas, how to fuse and grow stronger. During the day he ingratiates himself and his sister into Ashford Academy, forging what V.V. calls Social Links. At night, he watches as the clock ticks over into the Dark Hour and chases Shadows. To what end he's not sure, but V.V. assures him that there is a reason.

When Lelouch grouses that he should be looking for a way to bring down Britannia, V.V. looks at him oddly, tells him that that's neither here nor now, and asks him for another request.

–

After one particularly exhausting Dark Hour – he had walked into a particularly nasty Shadow that had thrown Bufudyne after Bufudyne, and Lelouch is now chilled through to the bone – Lelouch lets his eyes narrow, and tilts his head back. "It's rather rude of your Master to summon me and never show his face."

V.V. throws the compendium at his head. Lelouch lunges to the side and slams it shut before Maya can do more than poke his card out curiously. "Unfortunately for you, my dear," he drawls, "my Master has more than one guest at the moment. Consider yourself flattered; he never needs to interact with you."

Lelouch frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're low maintenance. Relatively." V.V. tilts his head, gets down from the table and starts pulling at his arms. "Out!"

Lelouch tries to shake him off, annoyed. "What do you mean, out?"

"I mean, _out_ out, get out of this room," V.V. snaps, hauling him up. It's impressive, considering V.V. looks maybe half Lelouch's height and age. "Someone's coming, and this room's never accommodated more than a single guest. I don't want to see what happens when it does. _Out_."

Lelouch raises his hands, and acquiesces.

–

Lelouch walks into the Velvet Room to see the normal furniture replaced with a reclining sofa. V.V. sits on its arm, leaning down to play with the hair of a boy soldier.

The soldier is lying on his back, eyes closed, in the standard grey garb that marks the Numbered troops of the Britannian army. Brown locks tumble around a lightly tanned face. His hands are loosely clasped on his armoured vest, still in his sleep. At least, he looks like he's asleep. Lelouch doesn't examine him too closely.

"My sister's made a mistake," V.V. says gleefully. He pulls a curl straight, watches it bounces back, and pulls again.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lelouch thinks he sees long green hair, whispering against pale skin. "What of it?" Lelouch asks warily.

V.V. shrugs. "I'm not too sure," He says. He doesn't sound bothered. He reaches with her fingertips to spread one eye open, green and unmoving.

Lelouch looks away, something about the eyes bringing to mind painfully vibrant memories of a shrine and a summer seven years prior. "Stop that," he says.

V.V. tuts, but when Lelouch looks back, both eyes of the boy are blessedly closed. "I thought you didn't mind getting your hands dirty."

"Death is one thing; the dead are another," Lelouch says, and thinks of the transmorgified coffins he'd Agidyned over the last year without V.V.'s knowledge. Apparently not. His heart is beating in his ears. "Why did you call me?"

V.V. lifts his head and looks at him for the first time that night. "I may have miscalculated as well," he admits.

Below them, the floor shudders as the elevator halts in its ascension. The grates groan open to reveal what looks and sounds like the interior of the van Lelouch had fallen into before being summoned to the Velvet Room.

It's more than a little anti-climatic.

V.V. notes the look on his face and says, "Don't look so disappointed; I hadn't anticipated such a dull destination either." He adds pointedly, "Our journey here has come to an end."

"What's going to happen to him?" Lelouch gestures at the boy on the sofa, but carefully avoids looking at him.

"Not of your timeline," V.V. tells him. "The two of you may meet again once you step outside. Not that what I say matters – you're not going to remember anything of the events that have transpired within this room. I can give you a few moments to say goodbye to your personas if you like; people get terribly attached."

_Step out, and perhaps the boy will live_, Lelouch interprets. But – something cold unsettles over him. He thinks of the solitary fights, the pain he'd gone through to cultivate his compendium. The promise of power. "I'm not to remember anything," Lelouch repeats numbly. "What – what has this entire year for, then? Nothing?" He shouts the last word, and it reverberates off the walls.

V.V. looks at him mildly."Has it really?" V.V. asks. "Tell me, if it weren't for the Social Links, would you have bothered to talk to bouncing Milly? The droll Rivalz? What about the timid and fearful Nina, hmm?" V.V. laughs when Lelouch doesn't reply immediately. "I thought not."

"What about the Dark Hour?" Lelouch asks. He thinks of Nunnally, of – of the boy on the sofa. He will have the power to protect them, at least.

"That's someone else's responsibility now," V.V. says. Lelouch thinks he can see a face in his mind's eye, pale and hidden by headphones and blue hair. He blinks, and the image is gone. "Your fate lies elsewhere. The Dark Hour will be closed to you, and it to you."

"And my abilities?" Lelouch demands incredulously. "They just what – vanish?"

V.V. rolls his eyes. "You'll be granted another power, " V.V. says. He regards Lelouch for a second, as though there were something else he'd like to say. Instead he says, "Get out," and jerks his head at the van interior.

Lelouch finds himself hesitating as well. He settles for an awkward nod. As he steps out, V.V. says behind him, "You might be seeing another version of me. Or maybe not. Say hello to my sister for me."

Lelouch turns to ask what he means, but when he turns around all he sees is the back of a truck. Then he frowns, annoyed at himself for looking wildly at nothing when there are other things to consider. Like how to contact Rivalz, and how to get out of the truck.

But then Lelouch is thrown against a wall, and the truck doors slide open, and there isn't much time to consider anything at all.

–

a/n: yeah, I don't know either


End file.
